Today’s ink experiment:

Perhaps I quit today’s experiment too early. I usually work with watercolors, although for the past couple of days I have combined them with waterproof inks.  I have added ink to some of my compositions in the past week or so: Abstract 52515, in which I inked the white traces left by latex masking fluid; Slouching Towards Judgement, in which I applied red and yellow ink to one small area; and Blending, wherein I set up means by which my inks would mix, offsetting the bold, saturated ink colors with white space and an earth-toned background.

Today I began my composition with a clear water trace in the shape of a ‘Y’, into which I dropped my colored inks. In testing the mixing properties of different watercolor pigments, I often paint one arm of a ‘Y’ with one color and the other with the color with which I intend to test. The color mixing should take place at the vertex and continue down the leg of the ‘Y’. Today’s composition is a variation on this theme.

Ink Abstract 052815
12″x16″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block

I was stumped as to how to proceed from this stage, so I put the composition aside for several hours. I still could not imagine my next step. The inks are so brilliant and the design centered almost perfectly, nothing cried out to be altered or added.

I usually quit after I overwork a composition. Today I may have quit too soon. But I do like the colors and the design of this study.